A Grim Fairy Tale

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A Grim Fairy Tale

Anyone who's wary of talking fauns and doe-eyed princesses take note: Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth is no more a twee fairy tale than Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a romantic comedy. Del Toro, the writer-director best known for his big-budget Hollywood vehicles Blade II and Hellboy, returns to his indie roots with this story of Ofélia, an 11-year-old girl whose mother marries a fascist army commander in Franco-era Spain. To cope with the murderous reality that surrounds her, she escapes into her own fantastical dream world. "I felt that if I did a third film in a row within the studio system, I would die," says del Toro (who just signed on to direct Hellboy II.) "So I said, 'Screw it.' I wanted the freedom and the madness of doing a movie that is not safe by any means."

Like Eternal Sunshine, del Toro's Spanish-language film delves into alternate realities, but it's far darker than Gondry's worst nightmare. Del Toro enlisted many of the people he'd worked with on Hellboy, from Doug Jones, the go-to "creature guy" who plays Pan and other characters, to CafeFX, which created stunning visual effects at a deep discount – enabling the director to deliver the film at just $15 million. The result is a harrowing thriller with personal resonance. "I have been like Ofélia most of my life," del Toro says. "I saw my first corpse at age 4. I have seen people shot. I have found a way to understand the world through very dark fantasies." Indeed, so will you.